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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

GOP Moving To The Middle--Away from Platform. Why?

The GOP is poised to make significant gains in the upcoming election, so why are they running from their platform and the conservatives within the Party?

The left leaning Washington Post is asking the same question.

There may be a couple of reasons, but neither make sense to tens of millions of evangelicals and conservatives who are members of the Republican Party and typically vote Republican.

The Post says, "Buoyed by President Obama's deep unpopularity, the Republican Party is positioned to reclaim a national governing majority for the first time in nearly a decade by winning control of the Senate."

The Post points out that there is "little room for error" in the GOP's strategy to move away from its social conservative base, its platform and even in some cases away from its conservative fiscal base.

Their move toward the so-called "middle" is actually a move toward the left if you read the Party's platform.

Is this merely "an error" in their judgement, or is it a fundamental difference of beliefs between the Party's elite leadership and the people of faith and conservatives whom they have come to take for granted?

Recent trends suggest it may be a fundamental difference of beliefs.

The Washington Post says, "In a midterm election year in which the political climate and map of battle ground states clearly favors Republicans, many GOP candidates are nevertheless embracing some Democratic priorities in an effort to win over skeptical voters."

Its concerning to some of us to see Republicans joining the social left in support of arbitrary increases in minimum wage, when conservatives know this results in people losing their jobs every time.

Look at Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and his $15 minimum wage promise. I have been told directly from top management that some of Seattle's biggest and best known companies---that are controlled by liberal left ownership, are already restructuring their payrolls to compensate for Murray's increase.

The net result of Murray's pay hike will be a net loss for individuals.

Some Republican candidates are now for legalized marijuana in their attempt to hook a few more votes, while some are now advocating for in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants.

Nowhere is there a more blatant slam on conservatives and people of faith than the Republican candidacy of Dr. Monica Wehby for the US Senate from Oregon.

The Post points out that she is a pediatric neurosurgeon, but hardly a traditional Republican.

Dr. Wehby says, "My opponent keeps trying to paint me as an extreme right-wing Republican, and that's not who I am."

Indeed she is not. She is pro-abortion and is playing an ad featuring a homosexual who recently "married" his "husband" asking voters to elect her, with Wehby, the two homosexuals and their adopted son in the commercial.

The homosexual in the commercial is the same man who sued the courts, using the courts to break the back of those Christians and conservatives trying to defend natural marriage in the state.

Big Republican money is behind her, while she and the state Party put their finger in the eye of evangelicals and social conservatives who worked tirelessly to defend marriage in Oregon, they will still expect their vote come November.

Noted conservative columnist George Will has been very supportive of her in his national column.

If this is such a winning strategy, why did Rob McKenna fail to win the last governor's race in Washington State? McKenna had both the full support of the Republican Party and the far left Seattle Times.

McKenna is pro-abortion. I'm not certain where he actually stands on marriage, but there is no question in my mind where he stands on the homosexual agenda.

Rob is vice president of the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts of America. On May 23, 2012, he was in Dallas participating in the vote to change the BSA's 100 year old policy regarding homosexuals. He gave an interview to KUOW 94.9 in Seattle.

In the interview he says he supports the change "very strongly" and has worked on bringing about the change in BSA for several years.

This is the audio of the interview. McKenna is introduced at about 2 minutes 30 seconds into the audio.

Republican Reagan Dunn came out strongly for abortion and homosexual marriage in his run for State Attorney General in 2012. He too lost, and it wasn't even close.

The Seattle Times described him as courageous. Dunn, McKenna and the State Republican Party said they were appealing to a larger audience so they could win an election.

Tony Perkins, head of Family Research Council, is expressing deep concern over just where the consultants and some of the misguided leaders in the Republican Party are trying to take us.

He called it similar to a scene from the movie "Groundhog Day" where every day repeated the previous day.

The Post says Rob Portman, R-Ohio, is providing significant leadership to the Republican Party because of his success in raising money for the Party. While Portman claims to be an evangelical Christian, he has become a champion for homosexual rights and redefining marriage since his son came out as a homosexual a couple of years ago.

Perkins says after Portman broke with the majority of voters in his home state of Ohio by publicly endorsing the redefinition of marriage, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) began supporting candidates who disagree with the Party's platform on natural marriage.

Perkins believes the GOP is getting some very bad advice. So do I.

Perhaps the best observation I've seen this week on this matter is from the executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Matt Carter.

He told the Washington Post, "They're running away from their national agenda in all directions."

He's right. Our Republican Party is doing and saying exactly what they did and said in the last several election cycles. The results are well documented. And it isn't "Groundhog Day."

Should the disapproval of President Obama be so significant that some of these so-called "middle" Republicans win, will they then believe it is because they compromised the Party platform and restructured their own values?

I believe every conservative and person of Christian faith must carefully and prayerfully consider if they, with their vote and their money, will carry water for these folks in their mad dash toward the "middle " and that elusive win.

It has been said, and bears repeating: It isn't about the Party, it's about the Principles.

Be Prayerful. Be Informed. Be Diligent. Be Vigilant. Be Blessed.

6 comments:

Staying true to our principles is difficult in a culture that opposes most of them. As individuals, we must constantly check ourselves to see that we are not slipping. Obviously, the Republican Party leaders are not doing this. We are not leaving them, they are leaving us. "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We (conservatives/Christians/others) are also told/advised that if we don't vote for a Republican, we will split the vote 3 ways (Democrat, Republican, 3rd party) and virtually hand the election to the Democrats. It seems to come down to voting for the lesser evil (and voting Republican) or voting your principles/conscious and voting for the candidate that reflects your values (Independent, Libertarian, Tea Party, etc) What's a conservative to do?

It is a catastrophic strategic failure to go down the road of "moving to the middle to win elections." This strategy has been conclusively proven false time and time again. The real strategy is giving people something to rally behind and building coalitions around issues of principle. It is about energizing your base enough to get them out to vote. Leadership is not the ability to compromise it's the ability not to. It's the ability to articulate principles in such a way that it brings people over to the truth. After all, that's what Jesus Christ did...